Redhawk Caldera Nature's First Green is Gold

sibs and parents maybe! <3

At some point in the night, the boy had rolled from the embrace of one parent and over toward the other, who had gently snuggled him in close so that he could sleep for another hour or so and let his mother rest. In theory, this should have worked- but his father's fur was coarser, and did not smell as inviting. There were places where there was no fur at all- and no nipple to suckle on. Bronco's scars were useless to him, and made him agitated. 

He let out a complaint when he nosed through the gaps in the fur to find a source of milk, only to find that even the skin was tougher, and that there was not a lot of cushion, aside from the fat his father carried in his belly. This one, he decided, was useless. 

The one with the coarse fur wasn't the only useless thing, either. There were others- soft ones with short, velvety fur- but they had claws and elbows and they often made smells that appalled him. The advantage with them, though, was that they suckled too- so sometimes, all he had to do was find one of them, with the velveteen fur, and nose along their side until he could badger them out of the way for access to milk. 

He found one of them without too much trouble, blindly nosing here and there. He didn't know @Boris from @Bronte, truth be told, or that there were even just the two others. There could have been four more, for all he knew. But he began nosing his way along their side, prodding with his little nose, hoping he could find his way back to the one with the soft fur who smelled like milk.

At a meager three days old, Bronte had a long ways to go before she could do much exploring. Her routine was simple; eat, sleep and piddle. But somehow, today, she was getting the hang of scooting about on her belly. Albeit only in short, small spurts. With her ears and eyes tightly sealed, she had only her sense of smell and touch to rely upon.

She was curious of the others she sensed in the cozy den with her. The one who smelled strongly of milk, was her favorite. Then others, also with that smell, but slightly fainter. And last, someone else entirely, who was more...pungent. Could they too, offer a source of food?

The golden girl had managed to nestle herself happily under the crook of Teya's elbow. Taking a break from filling her stomach but still sticking close to a seat at the table (she had reserved her spot, thank you very much!). Drawn in by Bronco's different scent, she was about to go scooting off again. But, blindly bumped into something else. Soft, round and kind of solid, like her. With that milk scent again. Instinctually, her toothless mouth opened to gum on the back of a closed ear. All she got was a mouthful of her and no milk. What a pity.

Ponyboy did not get as far as he'd anticipated. Not before he felt something warm engulf one of his ears- and begun to suckle on it gently. It was a new sensation, and at first, he thought it was well worth a strongly worded complaint, but after a second or two...He decided it wasn't all that bad at all. One of his little hind feet began to thump softly against the ground as his little, tulip ear massaged between harmless gums. 

Whichever velveteen sibling this was, they weren't quite so useless after all. He abandoned the decision to protest altogether and emitted a happy sigh, leaning toward his sister who had apparently found his weak spot.

Now, why wasn't this working? Where was the good stuff? Oh well, at least whatever this soft bundle of fuzz was, it kinda smelled like milk! And she hadn't really been hungry. Her suckle reflex was still strong. Whatever it was she had found was warm and soft. She liked that.

Making a burring little sound in her throat, she tried to scoot her way nearer, as if to climb on top of Pony. But she hadn't the strength quite yet, and plopped harmlessly back down. Her mouth came loose, stubby muzzle grazing down at his ribs. 

And then, there, she sensed it! The same gentle, fluttering vibration that came from the large one. A heartbeat, a mimic of their parents, but on a much smaller scale. Intrigued, she tried to burrow closer, her sides heaving with a content little breath.

As though hypnotized, he sat motionless, until his sister let go of his ear. He uttered a soft, disgruntled noise, and turned his nose to try and prompt more affection from her when he suddenly felt paws climbing up against his sides. This was not nearly as welcome as having his ear munched on. 

He groaned and stirred, feeling his sister plop back down on the ground next to him- and then she began to prod at his side, near his belly. Feeling her short whiskers against his ribs made him chortle with unexpected laughter as he felt what it was to be tickled for the very first time.

Suddenly, the plush thing she was leaning into was moving. Differently. Like a gentle bouncy sort of motion. Confused and wanting the steadiness of it back, she poked her nose in against where Ponyboy's leg joined with his side. Not at all aware that she had begun to mimic the tiny jolts by rocking back and forth.

Happy chuckles quieted into a brief lull, until he felt those short little whiskers and a small, wet nose give him a poke just behind his elbow. He screeched- lips pulled back and mouth wide open- and began to whoop with laughter, intermittently switching between loud, short chortles and high-pitched squeaks. 

His cheeks hurt- but whatever it was that was happening to him was absolutely hilarious.

Had she been far enough along in her development to hear, Ponyboy's shrieks of laughter would have been infectious. Instead she could only feel it. The way his whole body quaked and vibrated under her touch, the wheeze of air rushing past his open mouth.

With no comprehension of what had befallen her brother, and not knowing if it should cease or not, she nudged in against him. One gold side pressed to the other, enjoying the little bounces that came from his body. A little hiccup slipped from her mouth, accidentally bumping her nose against his.

The onslaught of tickling continued, and the child continued to bray with laughter until he began to hiccough and gasp for air, only exhaling a few seconds after drawing in a breath. The sensation was still delightful, but he'd had about enough of it, as it began to wear him out and make his little lungs work too hard. 

Still gasping for breath, he pushed one of his feet toward his sister's nose, hoping to direct it away from his side so he could get a bit of relief.

Wrapping this one up!

Tiny feet pushed against her nose. The sensation was strange. Enough to coax a huge sneeze out of her. It did the trick in rolling her back, away from Ponyboy so he could have a break and catch his breath.

Bronte too, found her little lungs heaving from all the activity and excitement. That was plenty enough for one day. Suddenly sleepy, she slumped down right where she was and settled in for a long nap.

At last, she gave up, and he could breathe again. He could feel a sudden exhale of breath against his leg, and startled lightly at it, but only because he'd never really noticed what a sneeze was, before. He moved closer, to feel where she was, and to see that she was alright, only to find she was breathing heavily, like him- but that she'd chosen a spot to snuggle down in, and he would snuggle up right next to her- finally calm and sweet, and fall asleep with his little head propped up on the gentle rise and fall of her side.